I still fail to see how this is our problem anyways. How bout we start the fark out the Balkans this time around.

Wow, I can spell.

President Bush doesn't care about Georgian people.

Bush won't do squat until they bomb Newt Gingrich's house.

You expect the U.S. to do something about this, dumbmitter, beyond condemning the hell out of it?

Team America: World Police

*cue "America - F*ck, yeah" song*

Why should Bush come home? This we're not being invaded = leave me the fark alone with my olympics.

Probably a good thing. We wouldn't want Bush to do anything else stupid..

Consider how Russia is somewhat more involved in this than we are, that kind of makes sense.

Oh yes, by all means let's dive into another land war in Asia.

I like how nobody bought Putin's title change from President to PM.

/You're right!

DarthBrooks: Oh yes, by all means let's dive into another land war in Asia.

Georgia is usually considered a European country.

Churchill2004: Georgia is usually considered a European country.

Meh, the terrain still sucks ass and you have dozens of tribal rivalries to contend with. Anything west of the old Iron Curtain is a goddamn nightmare.

President Putin?

You're Putin me on...

Where was Dmitry Medvedev while all this was going on?

NewportBarGuy: Anything west of the old Iron Curtain is a goddamn nightmare.

We're west of the old Iron Curtain.

Churchill2004: We're west of the old Iron Curtain.

Dammit, man, I'm drinking rum here. Do you expect me to know which direction I mean?

/I was only off by 180 degrees.

dslfobia: Where was Dmitry Medvedev while all this was going on?

Playing with Smither's Malibu Stacy collection.

NewportBarGuy: Dammit, man, I'm drinking rum here. Do you expect me to know which direction I mean?

/I was only off by 180 degrees.

Any way, there's plenty of countries behind the old Iron Curtain that are doing fine now- on par or better than Western Europe. Czech Republic, Poland, the Baltic Republics...

Personally, I'd prefer that he stayed in China.
It's more his style anyway.

Churchill2004: Czech Republic, Poland, the Baltic Republics...

They have hot women and are huge in the porn industry. I like to call them San Fernando Valley, East. See, I got the direction right that time.

It's Central Asia. We had no business trying to get them into NATO. Way more negatives than positives. This 'democracy at all costs' foreign policy bullshiat will be the end of us all.

Why the bloody f*ck do we need to get involved?

NewportBarGuy: It's Central Asia

Not under any definition I've ever heard.

As an advocate of a non-interventionist foreign policy in general, I agree the US government shouldn't be involved, but at the same time this isn't just another piss-ant tribal war in the middle of nowhere. There are broader implications at stake.

Churchill2004: Not under any definition I've ever heard.

Look at the map. It's East of the Black Sea, that's enough for me. We're playing semantics here.

Churchill2004: There are broader implications at stake.

There are broader implications because the Administration fell in love with the whole "democracy loving government" thing. Ignoring all the bullshiat that goes with their border disputes.

Russia is going to press into Tblisi, unseat their government and install a puppet regime. And, no one will stop them. Nor should they. It's a regional issue. Russia is the regional hegemon.

We've done the same thing with Cuba, Haiti, Central and South America.

We shouldn't be surprised that they do the same thing we do when shiat flares up in their backyard.

bulldg4life: Why the bloody f*ck do we need to get involved?

militarily? We don't.
Diplomatically, it wouldn't hurt to get involved. But for that, we'd need leadership that didn't regard diplomacy as a bare step up from communism.

NewportBarGuy: Churchill2004: Not under any definition I've ever heard.

Look at the map. It's East of the Black Sea, that's enough for me. We're playing semantics here.

Man...both of you going to be pissed when you find out that Georgia is generally accepted as a transcontinental country with three different regions that are in both Europe and Asia.

I think from a political/economy standpoint they are pushing for Europe though.

SilentStrider: militarily? We don't.
Diplomatically, it wouldn't hurt to get involved. But for that, we'd need leadership that didn't regard diplomacy as a bare step up from communism.

I don't see where there is an attack point at Bush for staying in China to watch the Olympics.

I think, for at least a little bit, it's probably best that we let Russia and Georgia work things out.

Let the UN talk about things for 6 months before we go making declarations and pushing the Russians to change shiat.

It's only war. When has Bush ever really concerned himself with a war before?

bulldg4life: I think from a political/economy standpoint they are pushing for Europe though.

Of course they are. They want into the EU and NATO. That doesn't necessarily make them Europeans.

bulldg4life: I don't see where there is an attack point at Bush for staying in China to watch the Olympics.

yeah, i gotta agree, there really isn't much point in him trying to force his way into the situation. He'd quite frankly just make a bad situation worse.

bulldg4life: Why the bloody f*ck do we need to get involved?

Look, we fart out freedom and patriotism everyday. We MUST freedomize these unfreedomites and deliver them onto the land of freedomoptia. Only then will they see the greatness of the freedomilitizationablely state.

NewportBarGuy: Look at the map. It's East of the Black Sea, that's enough for me. We're playing semantics here

Meh. All geographic regions, or at least the exact borders of them, are little more than arbitrary semantics. I agree it's a stupid argument, though.

NewportBarGuy: There are broader implications because the Administration fell in love with the whole "democracy loving government" thing. Ignoring all the bullshiat that goes with their border disputes

No disagreement here.

NewportBarGuy: Russia is going to press into Tblisi, unseat their government and install a puppet regime. And, no one will stop them. Nor should they. It's a regional issue. Russia is the regional hegemon.

Seems like it would be of concern to the EU, but I agree there's not much we can or should do. There are assholes on both sides of this war.

Though I'm not so certain about Russia trying to install a puppet regime. That's asking for a long guerrilla war a la Afghanistan 1980s, and the Russians don't want that. I think they're more concerned with simply demonstrating their regional dominance.

subby, you stupid bastard, why did you have to go say something so stupid that we are all left defending something george w. bush did? seriously, that requires an epic level of fail.

Bush is irrelevant. And he knows it. So does the rest of the world, who collectively hate his guts.

Russia will go apeshiat because it knows America is no longer a factor, militarily. America has its own ass tied up in Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia knows it, and it will act with impunity for the foreseeable future.

I would too, if I were Russia.

burndtdan: seriously, that requires an epic level of fail.

yeah, i feel like i need a long hot shower to wash off this dirty feeling.

Given that the Russians just started firing ballistics and using strategic bombers, I am curious if the Georgians have any SCUDs or other types of ballistic weaponry to fire back with. This is escalating quick, not to the point where the US directly has to interfere, but the UN.

Churchill2004: Though I'm not so certain about Russia trying to install a puppet regime. That's asking for a long guerrilla war a la Afghanistan 1980s, and the Russians don't want that. I think they're more concerned with simply demonstrating their regional dominance.

I don't want to be right. It just goes with their Chechnya M/O. It took them years and tens of thousands of soldiers, but that is exactly what they did. The Russians will bomb a place into smithereens, then show up and re-educate them into thinking they were liberated.

It's too easy to think this has to do with proving to the U.S. they have military capability. This is much more of an internal issue to them. They want to show the region they better do what the Foreign Ministry tells them to do or they will cease to exist.

This is purely a regional power play. They happen all the time. Lots of people die for not really much gain. Except for Daddy telling his children to STFU and go back to the status quo.

I actually support the Georgians, but they don't have a chance.

Churchill2004: Georgia is usually considered a European country.

I don't think we'd be going to war with Georgia.

I bet Putin's just hanging around his Dacha back home in Krawfurdograd, cutting brush and stuff.

NewportBarGuy: . It just goes with their Chechnya M/O

Chechnya is actually in Russia. Big difference, methinks.

NewportBarGuy: It's too easy to think this has to do with proving to the U.S. they have military capability. This is much more of an internal issue to them. They want to show the region they better do what the Foreign Ministry tells them to do or they will cease to exist.

I agree, but I think there's still a distinction between a regional matter and a purely internal one like Chechnya.

NewportBarGuy: I actually support the Georgians, but they don't have a chance.

I've got mixed feelings about South Ossetia. Georgia is clearly a much more liberal regime than Russia's resurgent authoritarianism and imperialism, which the South Ossetians are aligned with, but at the same time I generally support the right of secession. Consent of the governed and all that.

\Churchill2004: Chechnya is actually in Russia. Big difference, methinks.

Wait, what? Go back and look at that for a minute. Give them a benefit of the doubt on their declaration.

Churchill2004: I agree, but I think there's still a distinction between a regional matter and a purely internal one like Chechnya.

Again, semantics. Russia wants their regional neighbors to know that they better STFU and do as they say. Remember the Ukrainian situation, where they shut off the gas line to Europe? This is totally a regional play, just different tools.

Churchill2004: I've got mixed feelings about South Ossetia. Georgia is clearly a much more liberal regime than Russia's resurgent authoritarianism and imperialism, which the South Ossetians are aligned with, but at the same time I generally support the right of secession. Consent of the governed and all that.

I'm more of an anarchist. I like it when a group of people tell the authoritarian bastards to eat shiat and die. On a national level, of course.

The real ones to blame are these farking cartographers. They never take ethnic and tribal information into account. Cartography has led to more wars than anything else aside religion.

It will be an interesting week. That's for sure.

Republicans frothing at the mouth over "Beijing George" leaving them to rant into the ether in an unoccupied Congress (new window)

I don't quite get why they are mad at Bush over staying for the Olympics. I mean his vice president didn't go and invade another country during the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

As for the whol mess, if Russia attempts to change the government of the rest of Georgia (the non breakaway part) then the EU will end up with forces in there, and the US may. It's that damn pipeline thats important.

Did McCain submit the headline?

/That's Prime Minister Putin to you
//Surprised all of one other person pointed it out

The breakaway parts of Georgia, the ones that Russia is trying to annex, contain the only oil pipeline in Europe that isn't already under Russian control.

/If that won't get Bushie moving, I don't know what will.

submitter: As Russia invades Georgia, President Putin returns home to deal with crisis while President Bush continues his Beijing Olympics vacation

At least we know what Mr. Bush is up to.

What I want to know is who the hell is keepin' an eye on Mr. Cheney?

/he's in his secret, undisclosed, troublemaking bunker

Lord knows, I take every chance I can to shiat on Bush - and he provides plenty of chances - but there's no reason for him to rush back to the White House over this. What more can he do from there?

Lionel Mandrake: Lord knows, I take every chance I can to shiat on Bush - and he provides plenty of chances - but there's no reason for him to rush back to the White House over this. What more can he do from there?

Yeah, agreed.

Not going to bash Bush for this. So...fark you Rethugs who thing we bash Bush for everything.

WANT TO PLAY A GAME?

Don't tell the super-patriot crowd, but this whole situation is a pretty big slap in the face to Bush Co. considering the support we provided in getting Saakashvili elected. I'm guessing Saakashvili is feeling kind of hung out to dry right about now. Hopefully Georgia really did pull out of S. Ossetia and Russia will back off.